LUNGS EUROPE

Their core work

Lungs Europe is a Brussels-based patient advocacy organization representing people living with chronic lung diseases across Europe. In H2020 projects, they bring the patient perspective to research on respiratory conditions, ensuring clinical trials, AI diagnostics, and treatment guidelines reflect real patient needs. Their involvement spans tuberculosis treatment innovation (UNITE4TB), AI-driven cancer care (OPTIMA), pandemic response (DRAGON), and tobacco control policy (EUREST-RISE), consistently serving as the voice of patients within large research and clinical consortia.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Lungs Europe entered H2020 during 2020-2021, so their timeline is compressed rather than showing a long evolution. Their earliest project (DRAGON, 2020) focused on pandemic response, patient empowerment, and AI-driven decision support — reflecting the urgent COVID-19 context and its impact on respiratory patients. Their later projects (2021 onward) shifted toward longer-term health challenges: tuberculosis treatment innovation, cancer therapy optimization through real-world evidence, and tobacco regulatory policy — suggesting a move from crisis response to structural health system improvement.

Lungs Europe is expanding from general patient advocacy into active participation in AI-driven clinical research and evidence-based treatment guideline development, making them increasingly relevant for projects that need meaningful patient engagement in digital health.

How they like to work

Lungs Europe never leads consortia — they join as participants or third parties, which is typical for patient organizations that contribute domain expertise rather than research infrastructure. With 93 unique partners across 19 countries from just 4 projects, they operate within very large consortia (averaging 23+ partners per project). This means they are experienced at working within complex multi-stakeholder research environments and can integrate smoothly into large EU-funded initiatives.

Despite only 4 projects, Lungs Europe has collaborated with 93 unique partners across 19 countries, reflecting their participation in large-scale health consortia. Their Brussels base and pan-European mission give them connections across Western and Eastern Europe's clinical and policy landscapes.

What sets them apart

Lungs Europe occupies a rare niche: a pan-European patient organization specifically focused on lung diseases that actively participates in technical AI and clinical trial research. For consortium builders, they solve the increasingly critical requirement of meaningful patient and public involvement (PPI) in health proposals — not as a token checkbox, but as an organization with proven experience in projects ranging from TB drug development to AI diagnostics. Their Brussels location also gives them proximity to EU policy processes relevant to respiratory health.

Highlights from their portfolio

• DRAGON
  Their only directly funded project (EUR 113,750), combining AI diagnostics with pandemic management and patient empowerment — reflecting the COVID-19 urgency for respiratory patient organizations.
• UNITE4TB
  A large-scale IMI-style project running until 2028 focused on innovative TB clinical trial platforms, showing Lungs Europe's role in long-term drug development infrastructure.
• OPTIMA
  Addresses AI-driven solid tumour treatment optimization using real-world evidence, demonstrating the organization's reach beyond purely respiratory conditions into broader oncology.